Upper Clarks Creek Channel and Bank Stabilization

The City's efforts to improve water quality in Clarks Creek and other waterways in Puyallup is tied to the NPDES Stormwater Municipal Permit which requires the City to implement projects that reduce pollutant loading from stormwater runoff to address Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) action plans assigned to impaired water ways within the city.

The Upper Clarks Creek Channel and Bank Stabilization addresses the severely incised main stem and tributary channel areas just downstream of 23rd Avenue SW. A 12-foot-high headcut is located approximately 120 feet downstream of the road crossing
and has the potential to migrate upstream toward the road. Following the degraded channel downstream, cuts up to 50 feet in depth are further eroding the channel banks. To address these issues the project stabilize the headcut and roughen the channel in the incised reach for approximately 1,000 LF of channel to reduce continued channel degradation and downstream transport of sediment into the lower reaches of Clarks Creek. Channel roughening will be accomplished with natural material, wood, slash, and vegetation to create large matrices of specifically engineered structures that will be anchored in place.

This project will reduce the risk to public infrastructure, including 23rd Avenue SW, which could eventually be threatened by erosion
if the headcut continues to migrate upstream.